1/2/1

   The chests were a major leap forward.  Using my mastery of the web design, I was able to put more than one into the path of a maze.  It’s not so simple, after five months of trial and error, I only had two successful efforts.  The tricky part is that the lines between the two breasts have to be part of both illusions at once.  The technical solution to maintaining the two illusions did not occur to me until a year and a half later.

7/16/1

My favorite woman was a performing musician and I was viewing from the balcony one night, fixating on her flattering dress.  I retained that beautiful image in my head and as soon as I got home from the show I started painting.

12/30/1

  I took up portrait painting again after the attack on the World Trade Center.  My favorite Woodstock woman was about to fly to London and I worried that if anyone could get blown up on an airliner, it would be her.  She had never gotten around to posing for me, but I had studied her face enough to determine an angle that could be properly painted.  Shortly before her plane took off, I drew the maze from memory, knowing I would be to distraught to do it if anything actually happened.  Without her posing, the chin that I painted is definitely not hers, but the rest of the similarity is spooky-good;  and I finally had her right where I wanted her, always smiling on my wall.

1/4/2

This portrait of no one in particular is among my most difficult mazes.  The solution is particularly counter-instinctual.